As is well-known, business class aircraft seats offer passengers different comfort positions, from the seat position to a bed position that is substantially horizontal in flight.
Business class aircraft seat units have also been designed that offer both forward and aft facing seats, which are usually overlapping with one another to take advantage of the additional space at one passenger's feet to provide additional space for another passenger's upper body. Furthermore, these arrangements typically do not provide secondary seating arrangements for visiting passengers.
These business seat units are typically a conventional width used for business class passenger seats and therefore do not provide other options for passengers to be seated with their bodies in multiple orientations relative the orientation of the seat.
In certain cases, multiple seating orientations may be provided by separating the backrest into an upper back cushion and a lower back cushion separated by a gap. In such examples, the upper back cushion may be fixed in place, while the lower back cushion converts into a bed position. Without inclusion of the upper back cushion in the bed position, the lower back cushion is typically not tall enough to extend the entire length of the passenger's back. As a result, the seat pan cushion is positioned below a portion of the passenger's back in the bed position, and the leg rest cushion is positioned below the passenger's buttocks and legs. As a result, the passenger must physically slide back so that his buttocks is positioned on the seat pan cushion before transitioning the seat from the bed position to the upright position to avoid falling as the leg rest cushion retracts.
Thus, it may be desirable to provide a seat unit designed to accommodate multiple seating orientations through the use of separated back cushions in an upright or reclined position, while also utilizing a bed position that utilizes both back cushions to form a bed surface that allows the seat pan cushion to remain positioned below a passenger's buttocks in the bed position, as well as the upright and reclined positions.